Posted (09/19/1999) -
D
ick Starita put the car on the pole to start off the weekend's festivities at Road Atlanta. Will Nonnamaker put the #41 Mazda 626 2nd on the grid. It was shaping up to be quite a race.
For the race the driving talents of Dick Starita and Wayne Nonnamaker were called upon to start the #43 and #41 Mazdas respectively.
Young Nonnamaker fell back early on but moved up to take the lead 35 minutes into the race. Nonnamaker pushed the car to its limits until the yellow flag fell an hour and a quarter into the race. He then handed the car over to elder brother Will Nonnamaker.
Will left the pits in the lead and John Wymore took over the driving duties for Starita and was in 2nd. As the race progressed it turned into the Will Nonnamaker and Bob Endicott show. Endicott was driving the #71 Acura Integra in second and was fighting with Nonnamaker for the lead every lap. Some laps there were two or three lead changes every lap.
With 20 minutes to go the #41 Mazda of Nonnamaker was chasing Endicott hard and came down the hill through the last turn a little too hot and slid off all four wheels into the grass. Nonnamaker kept his foot planted and pulled the car back onto the track, not losing over two car lengths to the leading Acura.
Nonnamaker got the best of Endicott 3 laps later as he got past him coming over the hill into the last turn. With only two laps to go, it looked as if the race might be settled. But the drama was far from over. The Sports class leader was 10 car lengths in front of Nonnamaker and Endicott when the Sports Class leaders engine blew......
Oil sprayed everywhere, and the Nonnamaker and Endicott fought to keep their cars on the track. As they entered the penultimate and final laps, they swapped leads twice more, with Will Nonnamaker bringing his USFILTER / gojo / Planet Earth Motorsports MAZDA 626 home victorious over the Acura. John Wymore brought his #43 Mazda home a strong 3rd to round out the podium.
WILL NONNAMAKER
"That was the closest, most intense racing I have ever been involved in. Endicott and I drove hard and clean for an hour and a half today, and we never touched. This was a great race and I just hope we can carry this momentum into the final three races of the year."
WAYNE NONNAMAKER
"This win really goes to the crew. In the morning warm-up our transmission broke, and in just under 2 hours the crew changed the transmission and got us ready for the race. They did an excellent job during our pit stops as well. Then we pitted we were in second, and when we came out of the pits we were in the lead."
The points battle still remains close as Wymore is only 3 points behind the Nonnamaker brothers and Starita is only four behind Wymore.
The next race for the Motorola Cup is on October 2nd at Watkins Glen International in conjunction with the FIA GT weekend.
Click here for full results from the race
Click here for points for the season
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